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C'Thun
C'Thun (pronounced "Kah-Thoon" or "Kathune") is the final boss in the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj. Until the release of the original Naxxramas and later The Burning Crusade, C'Thun was considered the most difficult raid boss in the game. In its first inception, C'Thun was considered to be unbeatable with the current level of gear. However, following a number of hot fixes, phase two was made considerably more controllable, and the first kills were registered in a matter of hours following one such hot fix. Background Old Gods are known to be among the most powerful beings that ever walked Azeroth. No one knows their true names or nature. All that is known is that there were five of them. The young world was theirs and they ruled it as they pleased. Azeroth was overwhelmed by elemental storms and Old Gods held tyranny over it. When the Titans came, millennia, aeons passed during battles against the five Old Gods. One was killed, and its remains can be seen at the Master's Glaive in Darkshore, Kalimdor with an immense sword piercing its skull. Three were weakened (although still powerful beyond mortal comprehension), while one, C'Thun fell into the barren lands of Silithus. Fell, but didn't die. The Prophecy of C'Thun mentions this about C'Thun: "In the time before time, when the world was still in its infancy, a battle between a Titan and a being of unimaginable evil and power raged on this very soil. The prophecy is unclear about whether or not the Titan was vanquished in this battle but it illustrates that a Titan fell. An Old God had also fallen - or so it was thought." For countless ages, C'Thun would sleep and watch as races evolved, fought each other, saw invasion of the Legion and still, created plans for the future - its future. In the desert into which it fell, C'Thun found primitive life-forms known as the Silithid. The Old God created avatars from the Silithid in its own image. These avatars were to be known as the Qiraji, a sapient race that would come to occupy the western lands of Kalimdor. The great fortress city of Ahn'Qiraj was created to house their growing armies and prepare for the coming of C'Thun. From in-game texts: :The Gurubashi and Amani Troll empires had little love for one another, but rarely warred against each other. At the time, their greatest common enemy was a third empire - the civilization of Azj'Aqir. The Aqir were intelligent insectoids who ruled the lands of the far west. These clever insectoids were greatly expansionistic and incredibly evil. The Aqir were obsessed with eradicating all non-insect life from the fields of Kalimdor. :The trolls fought them for many thousands of years, but never succeeded in winning a true victory over the Aqir. Eventually, due to the trolls' persistence, the Aqiri kingdom split in half as its citizens fled to separate colonies in the far northern and southern regions of the continent. '' :''Two Aqiri city-states emerged - Azjol-Nerub in the northern wastes, and Ahn'Qiraj in the southern desert. Though the trolls suspected that there were other Aqiri colonies beneath Kalimdor, their existence was never verified. Centuries later, the Qiraji waged a war against the Night Elves and the dragons, to claim territory for the glorious and cataclysmic arrival of C'Thun. To prevent the invasion, Ahn'Qiraj was sealed with the Scarab Dais using the combined magic of both the dragons and Night Elves. For thousands of years, the Qiraji worked tirelessly to resurrect C'Thun in its true physical form. Now, the Scarab Dais has been opened, and the War of the Shifting Sands will reach its conclusion. Rumors circulate that C'Thun is present here with its great, horrifying lidless Eye, surrounded by a sea of tentacles and will vaporize every ignorant mortal who thinks of daring to challenge its supreme power and right to the world of Azeroth. C'Thun bears a striking resemblance to the Forgotten One beneath Azjol'Nerub in Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. Inspiration The name C'thun bears a resemblance to Cthulhu of H.P. Lovecraft's novels, as well as the chthonians, one of Brian Lumley's additions to the Cthulhu Mythos. Another striking resemblance exists between the name C'thun and the C'tan from the Warhammer 40,000 universe. There is also mention in Warhammer 40,000 of a planet called Cthonia, which was the homeworld of the Space Marine Legion known as the Luna Wolves — soldiers of the primarch Horus, who later became the 40K universe's greatest traitor. Also pointing towards a reference to Cthulhu is the idea of insanity, such as the Dark Edge of Insanity item drop, as well as possibly several of his quotes, such as "Your friends will abandon you", and "You will betray your friends". Cthulhu in H.P. Lovecraft's novels deals very heavily with insanity as well, with both his followers often being described as mad, as well as those who find themselves in the events surrounding him often losing their sanity. It is likely that the words C'thun, Cthulhu, Cthonia, and C'tan are all derived in some form from the Greek word "Chthonios" (Xθωνιος), which means "under the earth or "inside the earth". Although there was no specific god named Chthon in Greek mythology, the word "chthonic" (sometimes spelled "cthonic") is still used in mythological studies as an adjective to describe earth-related deities. It seems that Blizzard, Lovecraft and Games Workshop adapted the word for their own uses. While C'Thun bears no striking physical resemblance to artists' renderings of Cthulhu, it is an Old God, possibly similar to the "Great Old Ones" from Lovecraft's novels, of whom Cthulhu is the most prominent (though not the most powerful) member. C'Thun's eye, however, does greatly resemble Tolkien's Eye of Sauron. The eye of C'Thun looks very much like the Dungeons & Dragons god, Gruumsh, the chief-god of the orcs. C'Thun's physical form bears at least some resemblance to the Zerg Overmind of Starcraft. The only resemblance between C'thun and the C'tan is that the old gods fought against the titans, and the C'tan fought the Old Ones. The Titans and Old Ones are described in a very similar way. The name Cthun is referenced in the Stephen King short story "N." featured in Just After Sunset. In the story, Cthun is a hidden world of old gods and abominations that is kept at bay by a shifting circle of stones in an abandoned field, where a caretaker must stand watch and, through his perception, constantly "fix" the circle by making sure there are eight stones instead of seven. The rite induces severe OCD-like symptoms in its practictioners, resulting in a string of identical suicides. One of the beings that frequently attempts to pass through the circle is described as an inhuman, three-lobed eye. C'thun may also be a reference to Elder God from the Legacy of Kain series. Strategy Phase 1 The initial phase of the C'thun encounter, characterized by an alternation between the Eye shooting Eye Beams for 50 seconds followed by 35 seconds of Dark Glare (detailed below) as well as periodic spawning of mind flay eyes and claw tentacles. When first entering C'thun's chamber, the best strategy is to shield a player with high nature resist and have him enter the room ahead of the rest of the raid. This will cause the first few eye beams (described below) to hit the player with high nature resist, giving the rest of the raid a chance to get into position. A hunter is the ideal candidate for this, with their +60 Nature Resist from their aura and their ability to feign death and then put on normal gear. If the raid enters the room at the same time it is likely that a large portion will die from a chained eye beam. Alternative strategy at higher levels is that a warrior tank drinks a Rage Potion and pops Spell Reflect. The rest of the raid mounts up and runs into position, while the warrior Spell Reflects eye beams. ;Eye Beam (Green beam) 2625 - 3375 Nature damage. Eye of C'thun casts one every 3 seconds, if other players are standing close (within roughly ten yards) the beam will jump to that person and deal double the damage it dealt to its previous target (actually the damage is multiplied by 1.5, so the second target gets around 4500-5000 damage). This repeats indefinitely until the number of targets within range that remain unafflicted is exhausted, so spreading out is key. You may use the C'Thun Warner mod to adjust your distance with other raid members. The initial target is completely random, and the eye will roll around to face its target. This ability can be resisted, up to 100%. Nature protection potions are cheap to make and can absorb nearly all damage. Nature resistance armor is not necessary. : Example result of eye beam hitting in the center of the raid: : ;Dark Glare (Red beam) 43750-56250 Shadow damage on any player who passes through the beam, which appears red and extends radially out from C'thun during the "red phase" of stage 1, where the eye, appearing visibly red, will rotate this beam slowly clockwise or counterclockwise 180 degrees. The initial target is random, but there are signs of where the dark glare will begin, as the eye not only turns red, but a shadowy cloud appears in its pupil shortly before the beam is let loose. It is possible to blink through it. : Example result of Dark Glare hitting a player: : ; Eye Tentacles Every 45 seconds eight small eye tentacles will spawn at the edge of the black expanse which seems to house C'thun, knocking back anyone standing within a few yards of their spawn points, equally spaced in a circle around it. These eyes have a Mind Flay spell that does 750 damage a sec for 3 secs, but are susceptible to many abilities such as counterspell, gouge, and stuns. The Mind Flay is randomly targeted. These tentacles have around 2300 health. A team of one melee and one caster are enough to kill them in 4 seconds (don't use attacks with long casting time). Other ranged may help, but no more melee or they risk suffering a high-damage Eye Beam. Targeting them may be tricky. You may click their base, use a macro "/target eye tentacle", or press V and click their health bar. Note that it is possible to target them while their graphic is still fading in (while they are spawning). Mind flay is a binary spell, that is, it can be resisted completely (anti-Shadow buffs help), but its damage can't be reduced. The slowing component of the mind flay has been removed, but abilities which remove slowing effects (such as escape artist, shapeshifting, and blessing of freedom) still work to counter the flay. ; Claw Tentacles These tentacles spawn at random locations with alarming frequency at various points of C'thun's room. Their melee is fairly weak: approximately 200 damage per hit, but they also do a one-time knockback when they are spawned called Ground Rupture for 1350 - 1650 damage. Additionally, they can do a hamstring attack, making it more difficult to flee from the dark glare. These tentacles have around 1500 health. These can sometimes knock players into the Dark Glare. : Example result of Claw Tentacle hitting three players: : Phase 2 Begins immediately upon bringing the Eye of C'Thun to 0%. If no tentacle is alive, players are taken out of combat and are encouraged to drink during the transition. During this phase, C'thun has a shield which reduces all damage taken by 99%. In order to bring the shield down and damage it, players must engage the stomach from inside (see details below). ; Eye Tentacles These continue to spawn the same as in phase one, however they now spawn every 30 seconds instead of 45 like phase one. It is key in the fight to cover all the area around C'Thun each time small eye tentacles spawn. Again, assigning teams to take down Eye Tentacles is helpful. ; Giant Claw Tentacles Once every minute, with a 30-second offset from Giant Eye Tentacle spawns, C'Thun will summon a Giant Claw Tentacle at a random person's feet. Anyone on or near the spawn will take 3000-4000 damage from the Ground Rupture that occurs, as well as being knocked away across the room. They melee for about 1500 on a well-geared tank with tier 2 gear. They also have a Thrash ability (two extra attacks), meaning they will one-shot anyone who doesn't have a very high armor rating. If no one is in range for an attack they will burrow and re-emerge at full health, repeating the Ground Rupture attack. They have approximately 90,000 HP and there appears to be no cap on the number of tentacles that can be spawned at one time. ; Giant Eye Tentacles Once every minute, with a 30-second offset from Giant Claw Tentacle spawns, C'Thun will summon a Giant Eye Tentacle. They do the same Ground Rupture when they appear, and also melee just as hard. They repeatedly cast the same Eye Beam ability the Eye of C'thun uses in phase one, but they can be stunlocked. They have approximately 36,000 HP and, again, there appears to be no cap on the number of tentacles that can be spawned simultaneously. As with their small version, they are susceptible to counterspell, deathcoil, distracting shot, gouge or stuns. During phase 2, the whole raid is packed together to bring down the tentacles fast, so they are vulnerable to Eye Beam. Therefore, killing and stun-locking Giant Eye Tentacles is a priority. ; Stomach of C'thun The stomach of C'Thun is an entirely separate room. Every 10 seconds, a tentacle will emerge and swallow a random person in the raid. You fall from the top of the new room into green water, and are given a stacking debuff called Digestive Acid that does a hefty amount of nature damage. The debuff reapplies itself about every 4 seconds, and can stack multiple times; after 20 seconds of being inside the stomach, you will have about 5 debuffs. One application does 150 damage every 3 seconds and stacks up to 99 times. You can swim out of the green water to one of three small landmasses. One of the landmasses has a blackish circle on it which throws you up out of C'Thun and back to the surface; you can use this to exit at any time. Move to this island and stay near the exit point while your health allows. Nature Resistance potions help to increase the time you can be inside the stomach. Note that if you don't position yourself at the center, you will be bounced against a wall and killed. There are two Flesh Tentacles in the stomach which have about 25,000 HP each and a melee attack. Killing the Flesh Tentacles weakens C'Thun, causing it to turn purple and become vulnerable for 45 seconds. During those 45 seconds you may bring C'Thun down by roughly 1/2 of its hp with all raid alive. If there is a Giant Claw alive, don't stop tanking it. At the end of this phase, C'thun regains its shield and the Flesh Tentacles respawn in his stomach. During the weakened phase, C'Thun doesn't spawn any more tentacles. 10 seconds after the weakened phase ends, C'Thun spawns a Giant Claw Tentacle. You may want to synchronize the death of the Flesh Tentacles on the stomach with the death of a Giant Claw on the surface, so you don't have a couple of Giant Claws alive at the end of the weakened phase. C'thun at 80 At level 80, the C'thun fight becomes much simpler. During the 1st phase(with a group of around 10, although groups of 5-7 have downed him) have 1 or 2 people designated to kill the tentacle spawns, and have the rest of the raid DPS C'thun. Be sure that when he Dark Glares that you also dont stand directly behind the glare as, due to a broken machanic, you might die from the spell as if you were hit by it. For phase 2, have everyone in the raid run around the chamber killing tentacle spawns. Have your tank pick up the Giant Claw/Eye Tentacle when it spawns and the raid burn them down quickly. When a raid member is eaten, unless they are a healer or tank, have them kill the flesh tentacles and come back to the raid. C'thun only has about 900k HP during phase 2, so it should only take 2 weak phases in order to down the Old God. After you have killed him, be sure to turn in the Eye of C'thun at the NPC that is directly behind you, down the hallway to the right exiting the chamber, for easy reputation and some epics that very fe people in the game will have. Loot Quotes The following are audibly whispered to players throughout the raid. *"Death is close." *"You are already dead." *"Your courage will fail." *"Your friends will abandon you." *"You will betray your friends." *"You will die." *"You are weak." *"Your heart will explode." *"It's all fun and games until somebody loses an eye." (removed) External links *Anikki's illustrated tactic *High Res, Very Good Kill Video Guild: Dark Serenity - Size: 116MB *Full Video of successful C'Thun kill Guild: Loot FTW - Size: Unknown *Another Full Video of successful C'Thun kill Guild: Lost Anarchy - Size: 184MB *A Full Hi-Res Video of C'Thun Kill in 2 Weakens Guild: The Awakening - Size: 312MB *German Tactic Link *C'Thun Warner (Addon) Reference list Category:Uncategorized creatures Category:Bosses Category:Lore characters Category:Temple of Ahn'Qiraj mobs Category:Old Gods